At a meeting of EU trade ministers in Sofia on Tuesday 27 February, European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström unveiled the European Commission's 15-point plan for making the chapters on trade and sustainable development in free trade agreements (FTAs) negotiated by the EU with third countries more effective.
After a debate launched within the EU institutions in July 2017 with a wide range of stakeholders, the Commission identified 15 measures to be set up in order to respond to the concerns about the effective implementation of sustainable development chapters in the EU's trade agreements. These will serve as a roadmap for future work on this subject.
Its 15 actions are organised under four points: - the EU institutions working together and in collaboration with international organisations; - strengthening the role of civil society; - effective execution; - and transparency and communication.
Under the first point, the Commission proposes a partnership with the member states and the European Parliament, the delegations in the third countries and international organisations.
Under the second point, the Commission proposes facilitating civil society's role of supervision. This would include the social partners and would be through internal consultation groups and a €3 million facility to be launched under the EU partnership instrument.
The Commission also proposes extending the scope of structures for civil society in EU free trade agreements beyond the chapters on sustainable development.
In addition, it advocates actions on corporate responsibility.
Under the third point, the Commission proposes identifying areas and priority actions for each partner country concerned, on the basis of contributions given by stakeholders.
It also proposes encouraging the early ratification by third partner countries of fundamental international agreements like the ILO conventions and multilateral agreements on environmental protection.
The Commission moreover proposes regularly reviewing the way chapters on sustainable development work, and assessing their impact.
It suggests strengthening the resources made available to support the implementation of sustainable development chapters.
The Commission also wants the chapters provided for in trade agreements negotiated after the 2015 international Paris Agreement on the climate (including those concluded with Singapore, Vietnam and Japan) to contain stricter and more detailed arrangements on the common commitment of the EU and partner countries for effective implementation of the Paris Agreement, for their close cooperation on fighting climate change and their commitment to agree on common actions and to carry them out successfully.
As regards labour rights, in addition to the ILO conventions, the Commission wants to use the agreement with Canada (CETA) as a basis, as well as the ongoing negotiations (Mercosur, Mexico and Indonesia). These have enlarged the number of themes covered by health and safety at work, working conditions, work inspection, access to remedies and responsible management of supply chains, to include commitments on the effectiveness of systems for health and safety at work and for work inspection in line with international standards.
The document can be consulted at: https://goo.gl/LX8F25. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)